Kurt Asle Arvesen emerged from a group of a dozen escapees to win the 11th stage of the Tour de France from Lannemezan to Foix.

The debut Tour stage victory for the 33-year-old Norwegian national champion continues a fine race for the CSC team, who also controlled Monday's stage from Pau to Hautacam with a powerful five-man attack.

Arvesen had the best line of attack out of the final corner, and edged out Martin Elmiger of Ag2r-La Mondiale and Lampre's Alessandro Ballan by a tyre's width.

However, CSC could not close Frank Schleck's slender one-second gap on race leader Cadel Evans, who holds onto the yellow jersey going into Thursday's flat stage from Lavelanet to Narbonne.

Evans was guided carefully through the stage by his Silence-Lotto team, to keep him on course in his quest to be the first Australian to win the Tour de France.

The 167.5km stage began under a cloud, with a second rider, Moises Duenas Nevado, withdrawn from the race after testing positive for the banned substance EPO.

The Amaury Sports Organisation, who run the Tour, dismissed 37-year-old Manuel Beltran's transgression as symptomatic of a certain era of riders, but the same cannot be said of Duenas Nevado, just 27, the winner of the Tour de l'Avenir only two years ago.

Nevado's Barloworld team look set to continue in the race.

Given a day's rest after the exertions of the Tourmalet and the Hautacam, the riders had to contend with an unknown category one climb, the Col de Portel, on the early part of the stage.

At the foot of the Portel the group of 12, all out of contention for overall victory, had a lead of over 14 minutes on the peloton.

Cofidis' Amael Moinard broke away from the other 11 riders 9km from the summit to become the first man ever to pass the Portel in Tour history.

The Frenchman held out valiantly over the Col del Buich, and held off attacks by Arvesen and Elmiger until he was swallowed up with 3km left.

Moinard won a stage of the 2007 Route du Sud at St Lary-Soulan, and he used his local knowledge to good effect.

"I know the path of the stage well, because I live in Toulouse and I know in detail the stages in this region," Moinard told letour.fr.

"I identified this climb, and I also told David Moncoutie this morning that I thought this stage was ideal for an attack.

"I knew that with (Filippo) Pozzato, Elmiger, Arvesen or Ballan behind me, it was not possible for me to win at the end, so I fought early."

Arvesen appeared to back off too soon at the line, and was almost caught by Elmiger, but he was nonetheless delighted to claim his first stage win.

"It was a great day for me," Arvesen told Eurosport after his narrow win. "It was always likely to be a tactical finale, but it helps that my legs felt good.

"Things have gone up and down for me this year. At the Tour de Suisse I wasn't sure if I was going to make the Tour de France team.

"Now I have won a stage, so it's great."

The only man who threatened to make an impression on the general classification on Wednesday was Oscar Pereiro, who broke away from the peloton on the lower slopes of the Portel.

Pereiro spent the first week working for Caisse d'Epargne colleague Alejandro Valverde, but Valverde's fall from contention allowed Pereiro to release some of his frustration.

Though the Spaniard's attack came to nothing and he eventually dropped back into the peloton, the 2006 Tour winner demonstrated the power he has in reserve.

Moinard took 20 climbing points as a result of his heroics, but Riccardo Ricco keeps the polka dot jersey for the ensuing flat stages.

Matters did not improve for Barloworld in the stage, with the abandonment of two more riders, Felix Cardenas, through an injury to his left leg, and Paolo Longo Borghini, who suffered a crash early in the stage.

With 2007 King of the Mountains Juan Mauricio Soler ruled out by a wrist injury on stage five, the team will be looking to sprinter Robbie Hunter to salvage some pride in the race for the green jersey.

Leading positions after Stage 11 (Lannemezan - Foix, 167.5km): 1 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 3hrs 58mins 13secs, 2 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 3 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre at same time, 4 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank at 0.02, 5 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole at 0.11, 6 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom at 0.14, 7 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas at same time, 8 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Francaise des Jeux at same time, 9 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner at same time, 10 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram at same time, 11 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Credit Agricole at same time, 12 Amael Moinard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone at 0.29, 13 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole at 14.51, 14 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram at

same time, 15 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone at same time, 16 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank at same time, 17 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at same time, 18 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom at same time, 19 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at same time, 20 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank at same time

Selected Others: 37 David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 4hrs 13mins 04Secs, 130 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Team Columbia 04:20:27

General Classification after stage 11: 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 46hrs 42mins 13secs, 2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 0.01, 3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at 0.38, 4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 0.46, 5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at 0.57, 6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 1.28, 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at 1.56, 8Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott at 2.10, 9 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott at 2.29, 10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale at 2.32, 11 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at 3.51, 12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at 4.18, 13 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at 4.26, 14 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 4.41, 15 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at 5.23, 16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre at 5.37, 17 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 6.01, 18 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole at 6.07, 19 Stefan

Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner at 6.11, 20 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone at 6.47

Selected Others: 50 David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 35mins 22secs, 156 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Team Columbia at 01:52:04

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